Verner Edward "Vern" Suomi (1915 – 30 July 1995[1]) was a Finnish-American educator, inventor, and scientist. He is considered the father of satellite meteorology. He invented the Spin Scan Radiometer, which for many years was the instrument on the GOES weather satellites that generated the time sequences of cloud images seen on television weather shows. The Suomi NPP polar orbiting satellite, launched in 2011, was named in his honor.

On January 24, 2012, NASA renamed a recently launched NPP Earth monitoring satellite after Dr. Suomi.[6] On that occasion, John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said that "Verner Suomi's many scientific and engineering contributions were fundamental to our current ability to learn about Earth's weather and climate from space."[7] The Suomi NPP houses the VIIRS instrument that provided the images which were combined to make the 2012 The Blue Marble photo.[8]

Suomi died in Madison, Wisconsin at age 79.[1] He was survived by his wife Paula and his children Eric, Stephen, and Lois; two sisters, Edith and Esther; two granddaughters; and many nieces and nephews.[1]